August 15, 2014

Our Summer Fiction Issue is filled to the brim with new work by Oklahoma authors. Guest Editor Constance Squires worked with writers from all over the state to curate a fiction issue that represents a mix of sensibilities and subject matter. Here’s a preview of what you’ll find inside:

SNAKE BALL: A desperate desire for peer approval—and a preoccupation with things venomous and flammable — leads to mayhem for a gang of adolescents. By Bayard Godsave.

TEN-DOLLAR WORD: An old man recalls his moment of transcendence—as an 8-year-old boy, cupped in some oversized baseball glove he couldn’t see. By Steve Garrison.

WORKING CLASS HERO: Race, rage, and regret cloud the vision of a black skinhead struggling to find his place in the inner city. By Angela Morris.

THE DIRT ROOM: A haunting tale of bones, burial, and resurrection. By Aimee Parkison.

THE TRAIN SINGER’S SONG: A teacher transfixed by the everyday passing of freight trains gets a lesson in release from a young boy with a spellbinding song. By George McCormick.

BOOKS, MOVIES, ROCK ‘N ROLL: Constance Squires sits down with novelist Dana Spiotta for a conversation about process, technology, Rumble Fish, and more.

ORIGINAL OKIE: A stunning portrait of our state’s most successful author of literary fiction, Rilla Askew. By Shane Brown.